Somebody That I Used To Know
by Delta 9
Summary: Who'd have thought that nostalgia could be set off so strongly by kicked puppy look and a tough skinned piece of fruit. Or the time Merle helped Sophia peel a orange. Strong language.


Somebody That I Used To Know.

Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters. The title was inspired by Goyte's song of the same title.

Authors Note: So I commonly do this thing in my fics where I off handily mention an event and then have to write later. So remember when Merle helped Sophia peel an orange and called her a young lady. This also includes the first time Daryl and Sophia met up.

The orange rolled across the picnic table. It took a heavy hit off the bench and landed in the grass underneath. He watched the girl sitting there, slightly unseat herself as she peered across the table, all the while keeping an eye on the hidden fruit. That didn't stay hidden for long when the girl got around to looking under the table and rolled it over with her foot.

Merle leaned back against his brother's truck. It would surely cause a fight if Daryl saw. His brother was wound a little tight, being around all these people was stressing him out. Merle might dip in to his stash and slip his baby brother a little something to calm his overactive nerves.

That or pop him in the mouth. Let's see him complain about scratches when he was spitting out teeth.

Where was the little shit anyway?

His attention lazily wandered through camp.

The skinny bitch was talking to that pussy, steroid infused cop, who she was obviously boning. It would

The wetbacks were cooking up some breakfast. He had to say it smelled good whatever it was.

Up on top of the RV was the horn dog old man that was trying to get with the blonde sisters. Who could blame him? They were some of God's finer work. Merle had propositioned the younger one, she came up with rather unoriginal and no longer the same not-even-if-you-were-the-last-man-on-earth. Guess he'd try the older one then.

The chink had emptied a rucksack on the hood of a car and was combing through a complete mess of candy bar wrappers, a car air freshener, a couple sticks of tide to go, a roll of toilet paper and a very crinkled eviction letter.

Weren't the Chinese supposed to be an orderly people? Maybe that's why he was alone and not with any other Chinese people, that was if there were any left and they hadn't all become food.

Merle couldn't help but laugh. Chinese food. That was a good one.

When it went full circle back to the girl, she was still trying to peel that orange and was looking more like that piece of fruit was ruining her whole day.

"Lemme help you with that, darling"

No one had done the saying "deer in the headlights" justice like the girl did right then. It wasn't just in her eyes, which had gotten huge, she also managed to get the stance of badly wanting to bolt but being too stunned to do so.

Merle didn't take it personally. Anyone with dick came near her, she'd jump and run.

Yesterday Twiggy's son, the mexi-brats, and her were playing. She came racing through their little slice of camp and tripped over a toolbox. Merle saw the whole thing including when Daryl went to investigate the noise and found the little culprit clutching her knee.

"Aw shit. You alright?" Daryl asked.

"I'm sorry. Wasn't lookin' where I was going," she picked up a few of the spilled sockets, and dumped them back in the toolbox, "I'm sorry."

"Yer bleedin' pretty good."

_She could be extremely hemorrhaging, but the last thing you do is tell her, fuck head. _Merle shook his head.

"Do you think ya can walk on it?"

For someone who had spent a lot to time around animals, he should've been able to tell the girl was about to piss herself.

"Sorry,"

When he sat down near her, she tried to shut the lid on the toolbox despite the fact there was a hammer lying out. The haphazardly packed contents kept the lid from closing properly, she kept trying to close it until Daryl put his hand on the top of the rusted blue metal box and she froze.

"Never mind that, its fine," you could tell Daryl was getting frustrated that she hadn't given a straight answer, so he tried again. "Are you ok?"

She may have nodded a tiny bit or she was just shaking. Either way she got up and darted off leaving poor, socially challenged Daryl wondering what he did wrong?

Merle had a hard time placing her before when he was taking a tally and getting a feel for this group. He thought she could've been Old Salty's granddaughter, that didn't seem right. But he had seen something right there and since LSD was one thing he didn't have it had to be true epiphany.

Her and Daryl had been sitting the same way. From the way they had one leg bent up to their chest to the degree their shoulders were hunched.

She had to belong to that typical white trash bastard and the short haired, battered housewife.

From the way this one acted you could tell she'd been manhandled too.

Learning from his brother's mistake. Merle reached over slowly. "Give it 'ere,"

Deer girl looked down at the orange, small gouges had been taken out of the top, yielding nothing but yellowed pith, then back at him before hesitatingly placing it in his hand. Merle didn't dare close his fingers around it until her hand was clear.

Sophia watched Merle roll the fruit over and crease the skin. The skin! He had big hands, and big arms and a big chest. Ok, she should sum it up by saying everything about the man was big and stop stressing herself out thinking about it all individually.

"Merle!" someone yelled behind them in a rural Georgian accent. " 'Ey, Merle."

When they rolled into camp the other day, Sophia made a large mental memo to avoid the two Dixons and that was before they got into it with Shane. It was ironic that in less then an hour, she had pissed off the smaller one with the goatee and now in less then a day, she found herself meeting up with both of them.

"Apparently ya had gone deaf too when I told ya that you couldn't to tie that piece a shit bike of yours in the truck with the red straps. I said they couldn't handle the weight, now they're all stretched out and looser then yer last girlfriend."

Merle didn't respond, just waited until he came within arms reach and cuffed him upside the head. Despite herself, Sophia couldn't help but feel for the younger guy. That even sounded like it hurt.

"Watch yer mouth boy, there is a young lady sittin' here."

At this point, Sophia was sure she had heard it all. That was new. She held her head up a bit. That's right she was a young lady and men should be minding their tongues around her.

Sophia rested her chin on her knees with a small sigh. She didn't need to know the weight rating of the tie-down straps and how to correctly secure a motorcycle in a pickup. All she wanted was an orange. Merle had forgotten about peeling that orange in his giant hands as he was arguing with his brother. She had little choice but to wait patiently. Her stomach gave audible complaint.

"Have ya seen my crossbow?" Daryl gave up.

"Are ya feelin' any pain?"

"No,"

"Then it's not up your ass with that stick,"

"As always you're a heap a fuckin' help," Daryl snapped.

"Sorry," he added with a small wave that made Sophia flinch.

Daryl jerked back a little at the movement and eyed her inquisitively. She returned the look with a lost, kicked puppy expression.

_Its like looking into a little mirror, isn't it Darlina._

Merle knew Daryl wouldn't see the parallel between them but if anything he did sense something.

"Check over by that tote," Merle nodded over to a plastic bin, he couldn't remember what was in it.

If that damned crossbow was actually there, it'd be a surprise to him too. He was really just sending Daryl and all his nervous energy away before he gave her or himself a panic attack.

"Don't pay him much mind, he's a-" Merle watched Daryl look around the large plastic tote, then in it and when of course he didn't find his crossbow, he gave Merle the finger. "He's a spaz."

_I'll keep that in mind. _Sophia thought.

The orange skin had rebounded while he was having the drawn out conversation. Merle found the seam between to two slices and re-creased it from top to bottom.

_How is he going to peel the orange like that? _Sophia in her curiosity leaned in pretty close.

His meaty fingers turned inward on the orange and with a soft _rip, _he tore the orange in half. Right down the middle, in equal halves!

"Holy shit," exclaimed Sophia.

Merle chuckled at the low level vulgarity from the young mouth. He handed her the two halves.

"Thank you," she took them.

She plucked one of the slices out, leaving the peel intact, and popped it in her mouth.

"Hey Sophia, me and Carl are going to take a walk down the road. Why don't you come with us?" the pig called over.

Sophia swallowed the piece in her mouth a little to quickly. She looked from her long waited for breakfast back to Shane and Carl who were waiting for her answer, she had been itching to go explore, back to the delicious orange. With the slices still wrapped in the peel, she could put it in her pocket without getting it linty, she realized.

"That's handy," she said putting the halves back together.

"All in a days work, my little friend."

Their little rendezvous had attracted some strong disapproving looks from older sweet butt, Twiggy and the nigger lady.

That was a harsh. Yes, Merle had been hitting on younger sweet butt but she was legal. The little one was not, and he wasn't a pedophile. The thing was she reminded him so much of Daryl.

Speaking of the devil, Daryl was bent down tying his shoe. Something that had taken an inexplicably long time for him to learn. Merle couldn't help but remember when he had to tie his little brother's shoes. The brat would always complain they were too tight.

For a second there he thought he saw Daryl mouth the little story about the rabbit like he use to do. That was probably the drugs though.

As he passed by his brother, he ruffled his hair.

Daryl jumped up to his feet, tensed up for a scrap.

"Take it easy, little buddy." Merle laughed.

"Wha-" Daryl went to ask him what the hell he was on. He hadn't been Merle's little buddy since he was ten.

Merle had already stopped paying attention. He was watching the little girl that he'd been with a moment ago. She was talking to her father. At their distance they couldn't hear what they were talking about. When she turned to leave her father grabbed her wrist and gave her a rough pull back.

Merle's eyes narrowed and his jaw clenched, turning in to somebody Daryl use to know.

The End.


End file.
